How to Draw Animals

Alligators are amazing reptiles found in only the southeastern United States and China. Learning to draw this impressive animal will hone your artistic talents.

In this section, we’ll show you how to draw the above alligator. Either draw it freehand while looking at your computer monitor or print out this page to get a closer look at each step.

Follow the red lines in each illustration to learn exactly what to draw in that step. The lines drawn in previous steps are shown in gray. We’ll show you an illustration of each step and then give you a description of how to draw it.

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Step 1: Draw a large oval for the body, then another smaller oval for the head and snout. Add two rounded rectangular shapes for the curving tail.

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Step 2: Add more ovals for the top of the head, the nose, and the upper part of each leg on this side.

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Step 3: Draw rounded rectangles for the lower legs. Sketch two circles with black dots in the center for the eyes. Don't forget to include the white dot in the pupils.

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Step 4: Add ovals for the nostrils. Draw curved lines for the mouth, eyebrows, belly, and underside of tail.

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Step 5: Sketch triangle shapes for the claws. Add lines on the belly and tail to show scales. Draw lumps along the back for more scale details.

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Step 6: Use a felt-tip pen to trace over the lines you want to keep, and erase the extra pencil lines.

From water to land, we move from alligators to camels, an animal that's just as easy to draw as alligators with our step-by-step instructions. Read the next section to find out how.